"Doubles & Trebles"

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The members of Wire have resisted leaning too heavily on their illustrious past, often leaving out some of their best material when performing live. So their next backward-looking move might come as a surprise, albeit one that’s executed in typically perverse fashion. "Doubles & Trebles" is a track written at some point during 1979 and 1980, and it appears on Change Becomes Us, an album of newly recorded takes on previously unreleased material by the group. The result is a curious mix of Wire’s past and present, bearing scars from their less frenetic 1979 incarnation on 154 and tracks like the excellent "Please Take" from 2011’s Red Barked Tree.

Colin Newman’s vocals are typically caustic, often delivering barely penetrable lines that feel like classic Wire. "He recognizes the cypher, quickly resolves the code", he spits. The ground-glass guitars are all pointy and serrated, harking back to an older era of the band. Perhaps it’s a consequence of new member Matthew Simms joining the fray, or maybe a sign that Newman is finally more at ease with his own past. Either way, it’s something to get excited about in the build-up to this intriguing new record, and of the various tried and tested ways to revisit the past, the basis for this one is more inspiring than most.